Bird Box’s baby-faced monster is finally unveiled

Fans who have seen Netflix’s hit horror film Birdbox will be aware that you never actually see the nightmare creature which has plunged Earth into apocalyptic times.

But now the special effects sculptor tasked with crafting the nightmarish creature has finally revealed it, sharing pictures of the models he created for the movie. Andy Bergholtz posted the images of the creature, which was used in a scene later cut from the movie, to Instagram.

In a lengthy post, the TV and film creature designer and sculptor, explained that his creation was set to appear when Sandra Bullock’s character experienced a nightmare during a dream sequence.

‘Keep in mind, the fatal ‘vision’ that each character saw would most likely be different for each person, and this makeup appeared in a cut “dream/nightmare sequence” with Sandra Bullock’s character.’

The creature was uniquely designed to terrify Sandra’s character, who is pregnant at the start of the movie. The movie’s premise is that anyone seeing the visions immediately wants to kill themselves, causing suicidal outbreaks across the world.

As a result, survivors take to wearing blindfolds to protect themselves.

Explained Bergholtz: ‘Considering her pregnant state and emotional arc thru the movie, the producers felt Sandra’s nightmare would have something to do with a twisted, demonic baby creature attacking her (that’s as much as I could gather about the context of the scene anyway).

‘I sculpted at least 3 or 4 variations on the design before it was approved, which began as a more aggressive, monstery look and was revised to be a bit more subtle in the end. I also had the pleasure of painting the finished prosthetics before sending them to set, to be worn and performed by the one and only Dirk Rogers, applied by the great Steve Prouty.’

Bergholtz said people had misunderstood what the creature would look like, due to a description by Bullock.

‘It’s funny, I read an interview recently where Bullock described the creature as a “snake-like, green man with a horrific baby face”. Many folks have speculated what the creature may have looked like, but they fail to realize the “snake-like green man” portion was simply Dirk in a spandex green-screen suit. Everything from the neck down was intended to be a giant CGI creature/body added later.’

And while his scene ultimately ended up ‘on the cutting room floor’, Bergholtz felt the movie was better for it.

‘In the end, I actually really liked the movie and think it was better off NOT showing the makeup. Kudos to the director for sticking to her guns on that one. Still a fun project to be a part of, thanks Howie.’